That's just the thing, there are no defined requirements to retire a number. It just has to do with precedent and "how the franchise feels," which I think emotion has a lot to do with. Why do you think they took Larry Aurie out of the rafters? His accomplishments stand, but his number didn't. Yes, all of the players you mention have a very special place in Red Wings history and are elite players, but 100 years from now, looking back, I don't think they will mean the same to the franchise as Yzerman or Lidstrom, much less the production line and the Red Wings dynasty of the 40s-50s.
I would love to see you start a thread and call into discussion whether we should have retired Lindsay, Delvecchio, Abel and Sawchuck.
These are players from a dynasty of league domination and five Stanley cups. The production line included players in contention to be the top 1, 2 and 3 leading scorers year after year. Thumbing through the history books, you will always notice that blip of tremendous success. Again, this sets a precedent for future retired jerseys and looking back, I only see Yzerman and Lidstrom contributing in the same type of way. Yzerman captained this team for nearly 2 decades and brought them to championship caliber. Lidstrom is arguably the best defenseman of all time, captaining the team to an additional cup after Yzerman.

Every year I vote none. And every year I say, if there has to be a discussion thread about it, it's not happening.
There were no discussions about Yzerman or Lidstrom and whether or not they were going up in the rafters.

This is just so the boys can party on the road in Vegas for a couple years. I am thinking the away team will have a bad record there playing on a hangover. Then they will move somewhere deserving.
What a blunder. Seattle or Portland are open markets. They are so bored there that soccer is huge. Now that's a statement.

Source: http://www.districtdetroit.com/news/little-caesars-arena-announced-as-name-of-detroits-new-multi-use-arena-centerpiece-of-1-2-billion-district-detroit-development
Correct me if I am wrong, but I haven't seen anyone mention that the Hockeytown center ice logo is to be scrapped. We get a Little Caesars logo there too it seems. I guess we aren't Hockeytown anymore either. We are Hot-N-Ready-Town.

I always thought the brains behind the blue-green era was stealing from the defunct Hartford design. Those were awesome jerseys. Having created this mythology in my own mind (which may or may not be true), it makes me not like the current color scheme.
This "retro" jersey is what they wore when I was growing up, so those look right to me.

I've been to a game in San Jose. The upper bowl felt like miles away. Prepare for a whole other experience at the Joe. The place barely has an upper bowl. It feels like a college rink compared to the shark tank. Every seat is so good that I have always had a hard time paying for lower bowl seats.

I remember McCarty having some hidden talent that would pop up out of no where in games. I also remember reading he had crazy raw talent and could have been much better had he worked on his game and not been so distracted.
I am pretty sure the people who remember McCarty's play would take him over Abby. I would.

I'd never knock the hockey genius of Scottie Bowman. However, once you've developed a reputation as a winner, you end up choosing who you work for rather than developing teams from scratch. I think it's unlikely that Bowman was the factor that brought 3 cups to Chicago. Rather, it's more likely he had the hockey mind to see the potential of the team years in advance.
I think successful coaches, GMs, and other personnel in professional sports have a tendency to snowball on their own success. Their padded resume allows them to work with future winners more often.

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